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A contractor hired to repair flood damage at an AT&T store is in police custody after he was busted with thousands of dollars worth of stolen phones, according to investigators in Westport.

Officers from the Westport Police Department were dispatched to the AT&T store on Post Road East on Sept. 28, when an employee reported stolen items from the store’s safe, prompting an investigation. At the time of the complaint to police, the store was closed to allow workers to repair recent flood damage.

The employee said that he spoke with the project manager of the contracting crew - later identified as Norwalk resident Curtis Basedo, who failed to disclose that merchandise had been moved off-site. Police noted that “no one advised the complainant any merchandise was moved off-site, nor was anyone given permission to remove anything from the safe.”

According to police, officers went to the address of the hired clean-up company in Fairfield, where they found a box in Basedo’s personal vehicle with 12 unopened phones while he was off-site at another job. Officers later determined that the phones had been delivered to the AT&T store earlier in the week and had a value of more than $8,9000.

The stolen items were seized and an arrest warrant was issued for Basedo.

On Oct. 31, Basedo, 52, surrendered himself to police custody at Westport Police Headquarters. He was arrested and charged with larceny and released on $2,500 bond. Basedo has been scheduled to appear in Norwalk Court on Nov. 14.